Today we are going to talk about sluts. Everyone paying attention? Get real close so you can hear. There is no such thing as a slut. A slut is a myth. The reason we are talking about sluts is Pink Shirt Day — an event that encourages people of all ages to stop and think about bullying, how to prevent it and eradicate it from our schools and our communities. When it comes to bullying girls and women, there are few missiles as effective as the word slut.
Slut was first used as an adjective in the fourteenth century by Chaucer. Uh huh. The first slut was a Lord. Later the word attached itself to women, but always in reference to untidy housekeeping. True story. Maybe she dresses differently, or speaks her mind, or just goes her own way and makes her own choices.
Now, we roast them on social media. They give the word power. Those include lack of success in education and career, addiction and abusive relationships. Many years ago I published the newspaper in my hometown of Paris, Ontario. The company, in a shrewd business deal, purchased an enormous and basically falling-down building smack on the main street for that purpose.
It was four storeys and at one time housed the YMCA, community centre, and gymnasium. While poking around in the basement one afternoon, looking for treasure, I stumbled actually stumbled over a large chunk of plaster that had broken off from a wall in the old public washrooms.
Funny, how seeing the phone number from the house you grew up in can occasion such a visceral reaction. Stood there in that frigid, moldy place for a long time, wondering if the artifact was worth framing.
